Given the current climate surrounding the game of college football, especially as it pertains to head injuries and with a Rutgers player paralyzed from the neck down still fresh in everyone’s mind, recent comments coming from Alabama head coach Nick Saban may not sit well with some.
For old-school souls, however, it will be music to their ears. Or their hearing aids, as the case may be.
Following the Tide’s win Saturday over Ole Miss, Saban let loose a diatribe on the state of college football, railing against what he perceives to be the lack of toughness of today’s players as compared to the good ol’ days.
“That’s what I tell the players all the time, and they hate to hear it, but now I’m going to say it publicly so they can really get upset about it,” Saban said according to al.com, at which point a member of the school’s media relations was heard to utter “forget it, he’s rolling.”
“You’re telling the other guy you’re beating me up, I’m hurt and I’m going to stay down here. It’s just like a boxer. If you go down, get up. If you’ve got to come out for a play, come out for a play. But that’s just me. I’m old-fashioned. I know they don’t make ‘em like they used to. …
“But a guy lays on the ground and eight trainers go out there and everybody thinks he’s hurt and he gets up and runs off the field. When I played, my coach, you wouldn’t want to meet him on the sideline. So if you stayed down, you’d better really be hurt.”
While we certainly agree with a lot of what Saban said — to a certain extent — there’s also something that he’s either failed to take into account or simply forgot as he was trying to get his message across. Today’s players are simply bigger, stronger and faster than anything the coach or his football forefathers ever had to face.
All of that mass moving at a greater velocity? It’s the perfect recipe for not only more injuries, but more severe injuries as well. That’s an opinion shared by at least one member of the Tide football program.
“They don’t really, because those guys are slower than we were,” wide receiver Marquis Maze said. “They don’t make guys like they make them now. That’s how I joke back with him. Back in their day, they played with leather helmets. Didn’t have much protection.”
Certainly some players may take advantage of the heightened sense of awareness surrounding the safety issues in the game by taking an on-field siesta after what may appear to be an innocuous collision, but the fact is there’s an atmosphere that leans toward erring on the side of caution these days.
Was Saban wrong for blasting the toughness of today’s players? That’s for others to decide, although reigning Heisman winner Mark Ingram, perhaps with his tongue stretching toward one of his cheek,s agreed with his boss.
“He’s our coach,” Ingram said. “Whatever he says, whatever he does, we’re always behind him. … If that’s what he says, then that’s what’s right.”
Ingram having his coach’s back notwithstanding, there’s little doubt that Saban, right or wrong, will likely catch some flack and a little heat for his most recent ascent to the pulpit.
(Tip O’ the Cap: Mr. SEC.com)
That Nick $aban has no soul! He’s the devil incarnate I tell you.
I’ve never been a big fan of Saban’s but I think he’s absolutely correct. I see it every week – a player goes down for a few minutes with a couple of trainers helping him off the field and two or three plays later he’s back in.
Kinda like they don’t make coaches like they used to………….
Saban’s an idiot if he REALLY believes that. He can use that as motivation but then again, it’s these kind of methods that have gotten us to this point. Guys didn’t stay in the games because they were tough, they did it because they knew that if they came out that the coach might not put them back in.
When I was in high school, if you got hurt, the coach would run up to you and yell, “Get up! You’re not hurt, you’re hurting.” and if you had to be carted off, you didn’t get back in for a while and it was a big reason why we barely had enough players at the end of the year to even play a game while he was there (My sophomore year, we dressed 14 for the last game). As I’ve said on PFT, one of the guys I played with led with his head and he never came out and now, he’s as punch drunk as a boxer. I used to just shake my head at him for leading with his head and stumbling around for a play or two after it was obvious that he had been knocked for a loop but he wouldn’t leave the game and the coach wouldn’t take him out.
They don’t make bloggers like ME anymore!
I will take on all comers, one at a time or 4 at a time make it easy on yourself!
I never attack anyone, everyone else attacks me
and I only respond to defend myself. You only THINK I try to run over your opinion because you are INSECURE! My opinion is YOUR opinion if I say so!
You do not have a clue, you are a retarded moron. You should enroll in my SCHOOL. Noone but NOONE can SCHOOL you like I will.
My computer analysis and computations far surpass your minds capacity to comprehend. My statistics generated to the 41st power show a super natural overwhelming trend that I will reveal on Thursday. If you are extra nice to me, I MAY offer a sneak preview Wed night.
WHO AM I?
@Edgy
Excellent points.
@Coach:
Sometimes there’s a good reason a guy is laying on the ground, only to return a short time later. It’s not a matter of “toughness.”
There are times when you get the wind knocked out of you and for a few minutes you literally can’t move. It eventually subsides, but for those few minutes, when struggling for oxygen, you’re completely immobile.
Getting your wind knocked out or getting hit in the nuts are hardly ‘career threatening injuries,’ but these things may justifiably send you to the sidelines for a few minutes.
Mark my words:
Saban will be back-peddling from this by week’s end.
All he’s saying here is that he does not care about the kids – he cares about what they can do for him on the field… period.
In the pro’s that’s fine – but when I send my son off to a school I want to know that the staff he’s playing for actually give a crap about his well being.
What Saban’s saying here is that if you’re hurt – tough. Either play for me or get off the field.
This is a PR nightmare in the making. I promise you this – the staff down there will be fabricating some touchy-feely moment with Saban and his players within a week.
What a dope.
Nick is a notorious sore loser, so he uses negative comments, and thinks everone is stupid, and listens, he is wrong and no one listens
blitz4848 says:
They don’t make bloggers like ME anymore!
*******************
It’s funny how you can’t seem to show up when Florida is playing AND losing but now that they’ve got a bye, you’re willing to flap your gums. I’ve been here through thick and then with the Trojans. Why don’t YOU worry about YOUR insecurities. In the mean time, why don’t you try dealing with the subject instead of trying to stalk me or don’t you have an opinion that matters?
gncnew says:
Mark my words:
Saban will be back-peddling from this by week’s end.
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You never know. There are guys out there that eat this crap up and they’ll send them to play off Saban because of his attitude. It’s too bad that they’re more interested in living vicariously through their kids than worrying about how they’re going to deal with a quadriplegic son.
Excuse me…..Edgy…PLEASE point out once in this thread that I have mentioned YOU! Are YOU some kind of ego maniac? Again I ask you to point out to ANY and ALL readers of this thread where you say I have STALKED you.
YOU can’t…………or CAN you?
Excuse me…..Edgy…PLEASE point out once in this thread that I have mentioned YOU! Are YOU some kind of ego maniac? Again I ask you to point out to ANY and ALL readers of this thread where you say I have STALKED you.
YOU can’t…………or CAN you?
As an after thought what the hell does Florida losing have to do with staying on topic?
Oh, sorry, forgot the Edgy rule—
“Do as I SAY not as I do!!!!!!!!”
Ask Saban if he remembers Terry Beasley and what happened to him for being “tough.” Any Alabama or Auburn fans want to weigh in on this one?
@ Deb
Gators are struggling to say the least–there will be changes before next yr–look for a new OC.
@ BrownsTown
Will indeed do my picks for you to do as you see fit with–lol.
@ Edgy –gee next time it will be a tough decision. Go to the Keys for 17 days fishing, snorkling and kayaking OR stick around here to debate you over superfluous BS.
My team lost, they lost, my happening to be on here on a bye week doesn’t change their record or their losses. You are probably the most annoying blogger on the sports blogs.
No wonder you never leave your basement and go to a sports bar because in less than 10 min several patrons would have stuffed your a$$ in a napkin holder.
I don’t see the controversy here. Saban wasn’t saying guys get hurt any more now than then or if they do that it’s not warranted. What he was saying was essentially “don’t be a pussy”. If you’re hurt, fine, you’re hurt and deserve all the attention and care available. However, if you’re not hurt so much that after a little “on-field siesta” you can pop right up and run off the field then you should have popped up, run off the field and taken an “off-field siesta” instead, don’t be such a dramatic prima donna.
I watched the game with Ole Miss this weekend. There was an injury to Kirkpatrick and he was laying on the ground kicking his legs and waving one of his arms while he didn’t move the other one. My first thought as I watched this was that Dre borke his arm or his collar bone or his shoulder – I thought he was really hurt bad. About 8 trainers, doctors, coaches and sports agents bolted out on the field. Within 30 seconds he bounces up and runs off the field. And he re-entered the game after the next play.
I think this is what Saban was referring to – it was Drama at it’s best. I bet Saban stood on the sideline and was really concerned that Dre was hurt bad.